This invention relates to breast or chest supports, E.G., brassieres. More specifically: to bras with shoulder strap arrangements and connecting features; to bras with stiffening strips or stays; and to front weight support garments.
Many women routinely have bra discomfort. The body band of prior-art strap bras tightly squeezes the chest, rides up or turns under the breasts, rides up behind the armpit, and the band's elasticity wears out quickly.
Straps dig into and/or slip off the shoulders. Underwires dig into ribs under the breasts. Prior-art cross-back bras rub the shoulder blades. Prior-art longline bras bind and bunch up. Prior-art halter bras pull at the fragile neck, sit above most necklines in the back and on the sides, and the body band slips downward in back. Back-closing halters are difficult for the wearer to stretch back and close correctly.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,444,191 by Marguerite J. Harned, granted Apr. 24, 1981 entitled COMFORT GARMENT, FIG. 6, shows a halter bra with a tall/wide, neckline. Front weight pulls only at the top of the neckline; and with the neck's slope pushing it up and nothing to hold it down, the bottom of the bras halter neckline bunches upwards. Full torso bras, like those shown in Harned's other figures, can restrict chest expansion, bunch upwards, and can require an additional stomach fit. Tall body bands (longline bras) are tall to help hold the bra down. This might help wearers whose diaphragm is larger than their waist, but may not benefit large waisted wearers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,289,137 by Dorothy G. Dell and Christine H. Clifford, granted Aug. 15, 1979, entitled SPORTS BRASSIERE, is a front closing Y-shaped back (racer-back) size-invariable stretch bra, that mostly `squeezes every-thing in`. The trade-off is: the wider the stem of the Y, the more it rubs shoulder blades, especially when the wearer's running-elbows move backwards; vs. the narrower the Y stem, the shoulder straps are to the sides of the neck, where they are visible above many outerwear necklines. The front closure can feel bulky and can not vary the body band circumference like rear closures (front variance would draw the breasts apart or together). The wide Y () averts back height and width variance. Non-adjustable stretch bras squeeze the chest all over. Hook-type front closures can accidentally unhook (from forward arm movement).
U.S. Pat. No. 3,071,140 by Sanford Adler, granted Jan. 1, 1963, entitled BRASSIERE is a cross-back bra that tightly confines shoulder blades and is size invariable. With the back cross nearly as low as the front breasts, the bra basically pulls breast weight backwards. The straps' low cross can greatly rub the shoulder blades because it takes nearly twice the force/tension to support weight using such angular (.apprxeq.45.degree. from horizontal) straps. U.S. Pat. No. 1,708,713 by Samuel Zweben, granted Apr. 9, 1929, entitled APPAREL GARMENT has back angled straps that can cause: the rear of the body band to ride up, shoulder straps to ride up on the neck, and the rear straps to rub shoulder blades. It can also be difficult to close in back.
Heretofore the following have been used: Stretch cloth, vertical stays in the band and bra cups, crossed straps, halters, low back support, longline bras, exposed elastic (for friction), waist bands, extra straps, and more.